A Long Day for Brand Armstrong

By

David Roth

Oct 18, 2012 11:05 am ET

PRNewsFoto/Anheuser-Busch

Michelob Ultra will no longer be stocking Lance Armstrong’s refrigerator.

Compared to the business-science of marketing, with its mysticisms and obscure metrics measuring ineffables like “trust,” cycling is simple: train harder, ride faster, ride longer, win more stages, win. But of course, things have never been simple for Lance Armstrong, who recovered from cancer and won seven Tour de France titles, and became a major marketplace presence in the process, mostly while dogged by doping allegations, which he regularly denied. Armstrong has denied the most recent charges lodged against him in a lengthy and detailed finding by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. (Mr. Armstrong’s spokesman, Mark Fabiani, Wednesday pointed Journal reporters to a letter last week by Mr. Armstrong’s lawyer criticizing USADA’s report. That letter said the witnesses who testified against the cyclist did so only after they knew Armstrong had decided not to dispute the charges. That meant the witnesses would face no cross examination, it said. Fabiani added the affidavits of two witnesses contradicted previous statements they made.)